Research Note: Revisiting Fair Value Accounting––Measuring Commercial Banks' Liabilities

IAS 39, Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement (IASB, 2000), requires assets to be marked to fair value if held-for-trading, available-for-sale purposes, or if they are derivatives; held-to-maturity securities, originated loans and originated securities are measured at amortized cost, providing they are not held-for-trading. Financial liabilities are measured at amortized cost except those that are held-for-trading or derivatives. A proposed amendment would accommodate improved fair value measurement of financial instruments. Commercial banks are greatly affected by any accounting standard concerning the recognition and measurement of financial instruments, whether related to assets or liabilities. This article demonstrates that the existing and proposed standards perpetuate the mismeasurement of interest rate risk for commercial banks. Under IAS 39 banks that have a balanced position, that is, no interest rate risk, counterfactually could show large changes in income through interest rate changes. An alternative accounting treatment, full fair value reporting of financial assets and liabilities, including all loans and deposits, is offered. Presently fair value data are mandated as footnote disclosure.     

Capital, corporate income taxes, and catastrophe insurance

We provide estimates of the equity capital needed and the resulting tax costs incurred when supplying catastrophe insurance/reinsurance using a partial equilibrium model that incorporates a specific loss distribution for US catastrophe losses. After consideration of insurer investment in tax-exempt securities, tax loss carry-back/forward provisions, and personal taxes, our results imply that the tax costs of equity finance alone have a substantial effect on the cost of supplying catastrophe reinsurance. These results help explain a variety of industry developments that reduce tax costs. Also, when coupled with non-tax costs of capital, these results help explain the limited scope of catastrophe insurance/reinsurance.     

Evidence on the Timing and Determinants of Overfunded Pension Plan Termination

This paper examines the factors associated with the timing of overfunded pension plan termination.     

代客境外理财业务新政对我国银行业的影响和对策

2006年4月,经国务院批准,中国人民银行推出了“外汇管理新政”, “外汇管理新政”放行商业银行代客境外理财业务,对我国银行业来说,带来的将是机遇大于挑战。本文在对代客境外理财业务新政解读基础上,对实施代客境外理财业务新政的目的以及对银行业的影响进行了分析,并提出了银行业的应对之策。     

寿险公司的业务同质化与风险联动性

单家机构之间的业务趋同是否是金融业系统性风险的一个来源？近些年中国单家寿险公司的产品分布和地理分布均更加分散,但是公司之间的产品分布和地理分布均有“同质化”趋势,且公司之间在赔付风险、投资风险和破产风险上的联动性均提高。对此,本文分析了寿险公司业务同质化引起风险联动性的机理,探讨了几种可能的效应。基于公司配对样本,并从时间上和地理上引入工具变量处理业务同质度的内生性,发现:(1)当两家寿险公司的产品分布从完全差别到完全相同时,它们的投资风险联动性和破产风险联动性均将提高十几个百分点;(2)产品同质度对赔付风险联动性没有显著影响;(3)地理同质化对3种风险联动性均没有显著影响。     

Does the strength of the legal systems matter for trade in insurance and financial services?

This paper investigates if the strength of the legal system impacts on the trade in insurance and financial services in the high-income OECD and developing countries. Our findings reveal a statistically significant positive correlation of rule of law and regulatory quality with the exports and imports of insurance and financial services. Our empirical findings also reveal a negative and statistically significant correlation of contract enforcement with the exports and imports of insurance and financial services. We conclude that strengthening the rule of law and contract enforcement mechanisms can facilitate higher levels of trade in insurance and financial services.     

Population,pensions, and endogenous economic growth

We study the effect of a declining labor force on the incentives to engage in labor-saving technical change and ask how this effect is influenced by institutional characteristics of the pension scheme. When labor is scarcer it becomes more expensive and innovation investments that increase labor productivity are more profitable. We incorporate this channel in a new dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous economic growth and heterogeneous overlapping generations. We calibrate the model for the US economy and obtain the following results. First, the effect of a decline in population growth on labor productivity growth is positive and quantitatively significant. In our benchmark, it is predicted to increase from an average annual growth rate of 1.74% over 1990–2000 to 2.41% in 2100. Second, institutional characteristics of the pension system matter both for the growth performance and for individual welfare. Third, the assessment of pension reform proposals may depend on whether economic growth is endogenous or exogenous.     

行为经济学视角下的社会保障理论演进

社会保障系统通过社会与个体的风险共担，增进了个人、家庭和社会的福利水平，对就业、消费、投资均有显著影响。过去社会保障理论侧重信息约束和跨期决策下的机制设计，通过政府干预来实现有效的风险和成本共担，进而有效化解社会成员所面临的各种风险。但这些干预机制有可能会对就业等产生负面影响。近年来，行为与实验经济学开始进入社会保障理论的研究，新的理论试图从理性约束视角来理解社会保障系统的性质及其影响，并提出了全新的助推机制的设计理念与思路。迄今的研究发现，干预机制和助推机制各有千秋，通过合理的互补与替代，能够更好地实现社会保障系统的有效运行。     

Does boardroom nationality affect the performance of UK insurers?

Drawing on the board capital literature, we use a panel data design to investigate the effect of boardroom nationality on the profitability and solvency of property-casualty insurers operating in the United Kingdom (UK). We find that boardroom nationality influences corporate outcomes depending on the financial aspects being measured. For example, North American directors are linked with profitable outcomes, while European directors tend to be associated with better solvency. This reflects differences between the shareholder value corporate culture in North America and stakeholder approaches more common in Europe. Our results could help insurers, regulators, and others (e.g., investors) to better understand the potential performance implications of the appointment of directors of different nationality.     

我国保险行业盈利模式现状和所存在问题的研究

本文首先基于对保险学基本原理的理解阐述了保险公司获利的原理，进而以一些公开统计数据为基础分析了我国保险公司的盈利水平现状、业务模式和主要盈利模式，并从多方面分析了我国保险公司盈利模式存在的问题。